FDI: US, France, others seek to partner with Tinubu

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The economic reforms undertaken by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration appear to have rekindled hope in Nigeria as world leaders and some global financial institutions had indicated interest in discussing partnership with the Nigeria at the summit in Paris.

At least three world leaders and some global financial institutions are ready to discuss partnership with President Tinubu in France.

His Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake, said President Tinubu will, among other things, push for foreign direct investments in his scheduled meetings at the ongoing New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris, France.

Tinubu had arrived in Paris, France, Tuesday evening to participate in the New Global Financial Pact Summit, holding at Palais Brongniart from June 22 to 23, 2023.

Alake, who spoke on the president’s itinerary after he had received briefings from members of his delegation, said the president would be pushing for foreign direct investments in the scheduled meetings, among other things.

According to him, leaders from the United States of America, France, Switzerland and others had already indicated interest to meet with the Nigerian president, especially after government’s policy on the unification of the Naira exchange rate, the domiciliary account restrictions removal, which will unlock the huge potentials for investment, create jobs and capital flows, thereby enhancing investor confidence in the economy.

According to him, “The essence of this trip is to network as much as feasible and as much as is practicable. The president wants to network with international finance corporations and institutions, countries that are well heeled that would facilitate or that could facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria.

“Don’t forget that Mr. President has taken some very bold steps in the area of economy, in the area of social engineering in the last three weeks, and particularly, with reference to the unification of the multiple exchange rates, which has caused very positive multiplier effects.

“However, in the short term, we have noticed and expected that there will be a slight spike in the demand and then that would affect the value of the naira viz-viz the dollar.

“So, apart from the immediate, short and long term positive effects of that unification policy, there could be a need for an injection of direct foreign exchange into the economy to shore up the value of the naira while market forces stabilise and in the short run or medium term, there is going to be when the effects of this policy begin to mature.

“For instance, you can now spend your money in your domiciliary account. The domiciliary account restrictions have been liberalised. So there’s no more restriction. Once there’s money in your account, you can spend it anywhere in the world.

“Now, that is going to build confidence in the foreign exchange system of Nigeria, which means people abroad can begin to bring in their money into the economy, even those at home, who have hoarded their dollars for fear of restrictions and all that will now be more encouraged to bring the dollars into the financial system.

“However, with all of these, you still need a direct foreign injection of foreign exchange to build or complement the domestic policies. That is the essence of this meeting and is a global summit and there are several heads of state of developed societies that Mr. President’s policies in the last three weeks really have encouraged these foreign nations and investors to become more interested in the affairs of Nigeria in shoring up the economy of Nigeria.

“So, a lot of them are quite interested so many of them have even indicated interest to meet with Mr. President in this trip. Just upstairs now, we were having a meeting with the president structuring some of these meetings with heads of state.

“At the last count about three, four different heads of state of developed countries have indicated willingness to meet with him, have a chat with him and explore areas of cooperation on the economy, on agriculture, on other areas that are salient to the development of Nigeria’s economy. That is generally the essence of this meeting.”

Asked the number of countries that have shown interest in having a pact with Nigeria, the special adviser said, “Quite a number of them, the US, France itself, Switzerland and one or two others that I can’t readily recall now. There are so many institutions, international financial institutions that are also willing to see him.

“Some of them we are structuring either for tomorrow or Friday to meet with him and his team, and then consolidate some of the issues and provide more encouraging rhetoric for those people to come in and invest in Nigeria.

“Don’t forget that in the recent past, a lot of international investors exited Nigeria, because of the restrictive currency policies that we had, which stifled business. But now that these are being liberalised, and they’re freed to market forces, in the short run, we will need very comprehensive and robust direct foreign investment into the country.

“So we are very, very hopeful, that some of these meetings we are going to have will come to fruition and will bear very positive fruits and yield results for Nigeria.”